Friday, November 10, 2006

Hair of the Dog Blue Dot Imperial IPA

77 / 100

Hair of the Dog, of Portland, Oregon, makes some interesting beers. I've found I either love or hate their offerings. And their latest the Blue Dot falls into that category as well.

To be straight - I neither love nor hate Blue Dot. There are some aspects about it that I think are great and others get me scratching my head. Like all of the HOTD beers I've previously had, it's loaded with sediment. This makes the beer extremely cloudy. In this case, I was shocked out how light the beer was. This almost looked like a Belgian Pale Ale. The head was out of control, as if I shook it. The aroma was dead giveaway that it wasn't. It's a lemony hop scent, with the slightest bit of stale bread in it.

At this point, I was ready to not like this beer at all but then it goes and surprises me. The taste is actually quite good. It tastes a lot like other DIPAs. It's bitter and bold and quite interesting. the malts were quite pronounced and there was little to no citrus tones in the flavor. It finishes nicely with a round sweetness that brings it all together. Intersting stuff.